Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

It would be remiss of me not to speak about recent tragedies connected with drug-taking. In a previous life I was professionally involved with the kind of people who take drugs. People should remember that when they buy drugs they deal with death and when they take them they dabble with death. Everybody should open their ears to the plea from the family of the young man who died in Waterford. There is no such thing as a good drug. Every drug has a downside. The worrying aspect of the drugs scene is that new preparations are coming onto the "market" and we have no notion of their components, which makes it all the more worrying.

I would like our spokesperson on fisheries, Senator John Carty, to consult with the Leader and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to have a debate on the manner in which the fish stocks in County Westmeath are being denuded. There have been articles on this subject in two or three issues of the Westmeath Topic. Local fishermen complain that the Royal Canal, the River Inny and several other small lakes and rivers have been completely denuded of fish stocks. Everything is being taken out, even the fingerlings and nothing is put back. Something must be done about this because it is an outrage and a scandal. Westmeath is known as the lake county and has always attracted its fair share of the angling fraternity, from home and abroad. That, regrettably, is no longer the case. I request a discussion on this matter in the House at the earliest possible opportunity.